Whoa… that’s a bit suggestive.

Earlier today while scrolling through my feed on Instagram, I came across a picture that kind of made me go “huh.”

Let’s be clear – this isn’t the first time I’ve ever thought “Gee, I probably wouldn’t have posted that,” but this one actually provoked some thoughts I wanted to share with you all.

The picture was posted by Connor O. from ABC’s The Bachelorette, on Becca’s season. I’ve been a fan of Connor’s since the show, but I really started to admire him after I started following him on Instagram. The first line in his profile description is that he is “God fearing 🙏🏻” and he consistently posts images of the daily devotional he reads in his story. For a person who has essentially become a social media influencer, I think it’s really cool to see him normalizing his faith.

Now all that said, the image he posted that caught my eye was a bit risqué. Check it out…

This photo grabbed my attention right away… because, well, he’s literally grabbing his junk.

Not subtle at all, right?!

But then I think for a moment and go, “well he is a model now so I guess that’s the look they were going for” and start to dismiss it.

As I continue scrolling down though, this comment immediately caught me eye:

While the tone of this comment may come off as a bit judgmental, it made me stop and think about two really important questions:

1.Do my actions match my intentions?
The honest answer – absolutely not. My thoughts are optimistic about my ability to be Christ-like. I wholeheartedly believe that I have the best intentions of being a “perfect” Christian and servant to the Lord. But do my actions always reflect this? Almost never.

This women’s post was such a reality check to me about how in our modern society, we tend to pick and choose when we want to be “Christ-like.” As the pastor from our church here in KY would say, it’s because we’ve “lost our sense of sin.” The fact that I wrote off the photo as “well he’s a model now, so…” shows this exactly. We make excuses not only for ourselves, but others as well, as a means of justifying our actions.

2. To what extent as Christians are we responsible for holding ourselves and those around us accountable for our actions?
In my opinion, this is where things start to get uncomfortable because its where we run the risk of being “that Christian.”

I firmly believe that as Christians, it is our responsibility to bring others to Christ and encourage others to live out the values we’ve learned through the Bible. However, I also believe that there are right and wrong ways to do this. Perhaps it’s because our society has become so sensitive and defensive that it rears up at any criticism. But because of this, I think we are at a point where a balance between grace and reality-check is vital to encouraging others to grow closer to Jesus; not pushing them farther away.

Now, I’d love to hear from you.. What do you think about the woman’s response to the photo? Was it too much, too little, or just right? What are some ways you might suggest someone to hold another person accountable while withholding judgment?